VietNamNet Bridge - Tens of millions of cards for use at bank ATMs have been issued but Vietnam remains a cash economy as millions of cards have been left unused.

 

Tens of millions of cards for use at bank ATMs have been issued

A report from the Vietnam Banking Card Association shows that 86 million cards had been issued by 2015, an increase of 30 percent compared to 2013. 

These include 80 million domestic debit cards (ATM), more than 2.5 million credit cards and some other types of cards. However, only 65.3 million cards have been used in reality, while inactive cards account for 26 percent.

However, bankers said that the proportion of inactive cards was higher than reported, which could be up to 50 percent of the issued cards.

Nguyen Phuong Nam in district 9 in HCM City said she now has four bank cards in her handbags, but she only regularly makes transactions with two of them.

Cards have been used mostly to withdraw cash from banks (58 percent of the transaction value), or to make transfers (14 percent).

“The other two I got 10 years ago when I was a university student,” she explained. “Though I did not make any transactions with the two cards for many years, I have not received any notice from the banks about the interruption of service.”

Tran Van Thanh in district 2 of HCM City said he unwillingly has five bank cards.

“My company changes bank partners every year and we have to get the cards issued by new banks to receive salaries. As a result, we have to throw the old cards away,” he said.

The number of inactive cards in the market is very high as a result of the card issuance race triggered by commercial banks. 

Customers accepted the cards because they did not have to pay fees. 

According to GSO, only 20 percent of Vietnamese population have bank accounts. 

Meanwhile, 86 million cards have been issued. This could mean that every Vietnamese has three to five cards.

According to the Vietnam Bank Card Association, 90 percent of the card transaction value is made via ATMs. 

Cards have been used mostly to withdraw cash from banks (58 percent of the transaction value), or to make transfers (14 percent). 

Meanwhile, the payment in cards at POS (point of sale) accounts for only 1.07 percent of total transactions’ value.

JCB, a Japanese card issuer, noted that cash remains the major payment method used by the majority of Vietnamese. Card payment is only used in some cases when card holders have to pay for valuable products. 

Banks have been advised to tighten control over the cards issued because the high number of inactive cards could bring big losses to banks. 


NLD